CHINA
would invest billions of dollars to transform vast tracts of
undeveloped
land in northern Australia for farming, under a plan
confirmed yesterday by
the federal government.

But opponents said an "Asia food bowl" would come
at the expense of
giving Australians access to affordable, good-quality
food.

Trade and Competitiveness Minister Craig Emerson confirmed that the
government was undertaking a joint study with Beijing to examine the
policy changes needed for a massive investment by Chinese agricultural
interests.

Dr Emerson has denied that this means there are plans to
"buy up the
farm" and use imported labour to produce food for the voracious
Chinese
market, with its 1.3 billion citizens. "It is designed to lift
Australian food production for world markets," he said.

The
revelation, in advance of an official report expected midyear, has
caused
some consternation in Canberra, where foreign ownership of
Australian
farmland is a hot-button issue.

Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce, who
recently pushed for tougher
restrictions on foreign ownership of land in a
move that was seen as
breaking ranks with the Liberals, said that the report
would raise
hackles in urban as well as regional areas across
Australia.

"There is a strong concern in the Australian public about
ownership of
their farmland and it has a deeper philosophical vein to it
than many
other things," he said. "It is not only a concern for regional
people -
it is reflected very, very strongly in urban
constituencies."

While the move by the Chinese was "astute", he said it
exposed the lack
of planning for our own food security since Australia was
now a net
importer of food and the resulting inflation had an impact on food
prices.

"It's not that you'll run out of food, it's the form of food that
you'll
be able to buy, and that is happening right now. How often do you see
people who in the past bought the roast, now buy mince? Why? Because
they can't afford the roast, but that was once a staple."

The
question of selling Australian land to a foreign state-owned
enterprise
could also have troubling implications, according to Senator
Joyce.

"It is held by an organ of the government, and governments,
especially
strong ones like the Chinese, don't go broke - therefore they can
hold
[the land] in perpetuity," he said.

Joyce denied his views were
xenophobic. "Look at any other country and
see what their controls of
[foreign] investment are like and then
compare it to ours and you'll see you
can't buy [land] in China, you
can't buy it in Japan, you can't buy it in
South Korea, you're
struggling to buy in the United States and there are
vastly greater
controls with buying it in New Zealand."

Liberal
senator Bill Heffernan said Australians were either "too bloody
tired or too
bloody lazy" to develop the land to ensure our own future.
"I think it's
time that all Australians sat up and took notice," he said.

While
northern Australia has millions of hectares of underutilised land
- as well
as abundant water and good proximity to Asia - obstacles to
development have
included poor transport links and a difficult climate.

Until now, the
Chinese have focused on opening up farmland in South
America and Africa to
meet the demands of the burgeoning Chinese middle
class. They are expected
to continue to focus on wheat and rice
production on the mainland while
looking for new sources to meet their
increasing needs for beef, sheep,
sugar and dairy.

It is the consumption of meat, in particular, that tells
the story of
the food needs of the world's most populous nation.

More
than a quarter of all meat produced worldwide is now eaten in
China. In
1978, China's annual consumption of meat was 8 million tonnes
- it is now 71
million tonnes and more than twice that of the United States.

(2) China
asks to colonise a part of Western Australia - to grow food (instead of
buying it from us)

China officially asks to colonise a part of
Western Australia-for money
of course

April has been a month of
policy disasters for Australian agriculture
defining its now bleak
future

Delivering a mortal blow to the dairy industry, our disingenuous
ALP
government, aided and abetted by traitorous so-called primary producer
organizations such as the National Farmers Federation has not said boo
about the largest ever shipment of Australian dairy cows and heifers
shipped to China in the past eight months.

To top off this farmer
coup-de-grace, former Prime Minister Bob Hawke is
acting as gigolo for a
Chinese conglomerate offering to buy 15,000
hectares of prime farming
country east of Kunnunurra in Western Australia.

The Shanghai Zhongfu
group wants to grow its own irrigated sugar cane in
the $311m second-stage
expansion of the Ord irrigation project.

Another 13 companies and
individual farmers are competing against the
Chinese after submitting final
expressions of interest to the West
Australian government to farm all or
part of the new area.

Should the Chinese offer be accepted this massive
expansion of the sugar
industry in Northern Australia will spell disaster
for Queensland cane
growers.

Zhongfu, trading as Kimberley
Agricultural Investments, is also in
discussion with the WA, NT and federal
governments and traditional
owners the Miriuwung Gajerrong Corporation to
develop a further 15,000
ha of prime black soil downs country on the NT side
of the Kimberley border.

A sweetener in Hawkes bid is to build is to
build a $100m sugar mill in
the Ord region.

Hawkes company also
proposes to establish a super, 500,000 head a year
abattoir in the east
Kimberley to supply the beef export market to China.

This venture could
also wipe out a proposal to build a large abattoir in
the Cloncurry district
of Noerth West Queensland.

This venture will also spell disaster for
Australias largest
pastoralist, the Australian Agriculture Company which has
plans to start
building an abattoir at Katherine.

KAI says it needs
30-40,000 ha of sugar crops to support a financially
viable sugar mill and
biofuel production.

In return for such a large investment the company is
demanding all
environmental and native title approvals be handed to it on a
plate
within two years.

Cairnsnews has copies of the WA Governments
generic farm purchase
contracts which are tailored towards a significant
indigenous
partnership arrangement for any purchaser in the Kimberley
region.

It will be of interest to individual farmers bidding for land if
these
arrangements are included in any Chinese deal.

WA Farmers
Federation president Dale Park said his organization was
unlikely to oppose
the Chinese bid.

EXODUS OF WORLD-BEST DAIRY BREEDING STOCK TO
CHINA

In 2008 nearly 50,000 dairy cattle were exported overseas from
Australian producers, but in the first eight months of this financial
year 36,450 cows worth a staggering $44m have gone to China.

By the
end of June exports will top 55,000 a rather dubious record which
is
unsustainable for the future of the dairy industry.

The export heifers,
mostly from Victoria, are fetching up to $1600 per
head, about 30 per cent
more than the domestic market can afford.

The milk war between Coles and
Woolworths has had a detrimental effect
on the industry and coupled with
de-regulation it has forced many
farmers to the wall.

Australia, New
Zealand and Uruguay are the only three countries licensed
to export dairy
cattle to China.

(3) Australian Agricultural Co. also bids to farm
irrigated zone in northern australia

TICKY
FULLERTON, PRESENTER: It's been amazingly low key, but the most
exciting and
potentially costly tender in Australia's far north is
underway.

At
stake, a big bite of the food bowl, the vast Ord Two development zone
in the
Kimberley, with 400,000 megalitres of water from the giant Argyle
Dam.

Land in the dry tropics can grow food out of season for Asia and
could
produce cotton, sugar - you name it actually.

It's tense - as
the Australian Government duchesses Chinese interests
one of the final
bidders is Australian agricultural company AA Co,
founded in 1824 and backed
by a very Australian consortium of super funds.

Well I spoke to the AA Co
boss David Farley a little earlier.

David Farley, thanks for joining
us.

DAVID FARLEY, CEO, AA CO: Pleasure, Ticky.

TICKY FULLERTON:
Now, you're building an abattoir, but far bigger stakes
at the moment is
this tender for Ord Two up in the Kimberley. Just in
your view, how
important is this decision for the Australian economy?

DAVID FARLEY: I
think, Ticky, if goes beyond the Australian economy, it
goes right down to
the Australian security and what we're doing with our
land assets in the
north of Australia and in particular what we're doing
with those land assets
to meet the demand that'll be coming out of
South-East Asia and China
between now and 2050.

TICKY FULLERTON: What do you mean by that? I mean,
presumably you're
talking about overseas interests winning this contract. If
a Chinese
consortium did win this, what do you mean by national
security?

DAVID FARLEY: Um, there's no need for a Chinese investor to win
this at
all. Australia's more than capable of developing this asset itself.
We
have the skills base, we've got the intellect and more importantly we've
got the capital base within the country, within our pension and our
superannuation plans, to take this project on and deliver it to
market.

The big thing that we need to be cognisant of and in our recent
global
history is that if you disrupt food chains into countries, you soon
disrupt social stability and government stability.

We've seen that
happen in the Middle East with the spike in the food
prices. We've got
sitting right to our north one of the strongest
growing economies in the
globe today being Indonesia. The disruption or
the banning of the live trade
12 months ago, the consequences are still
flowing on.

There is still
concern there especially around the security of
Australia's reaction in its
ability to manage any breaches of the
security chains that we've put in
place. And it's important that our
country, Australia, responds properly and
responsibly in getting our
assets ready for production.

And I don't
think we need external investment for these assets at the
moment. We're more
than capable of meeting the capital demand and the
skills demand to put them
into production.

TICKY FULLERTON: What you're saying though is that if we
lock up
something as big as the Kimberley to one overseas player, then that
could actually cause something of a trading incident, a diplomatic
incident.

DAVID FARLEY: We'll need dexterity with our ability to meet the
demand
on Australia, to meet the global calling of food. And therefore, we
want
to make sure that these assets are treated equitably right from the
beginning and then more importantly we can arrange the distribution not
only to the best market, but to the most important need at the same
time.

And we're talking of assets now that have got incredible life to
them.
These aren't like gas fields or coal mines. These will not - if
they're
managed properly, they'll last for a long, long period of time. And
what
we've got to make sure now, with this unique and iconic asset in the
north is that we put it in the right hand of stewardship.

TICKY
FULLERTON: Your biggest competition looks to be a Chinese
consortium with an
association with Bob Hawke, former Labor prime
minister. Now we hear from
The Fin that the Trade Minister has been
chatting away with the Chinese
commerce minister for about six months on
opening up the Top End. How do you
feel this will weigh into their
deliberations about the bid?

DAVID
FARLEY: Well, we've had - The Australian's reported Bob Hawke's
relationship
with the - one of the proponents for the bid. We've read
today that our
Trade Minister Emerson has been promoting the product -
the development
itself in China. Obviously there's an influence there.

I'm surprised
though that we're not being as equally excited and as
equally promoting it
within the country itself. Again, I'll reiterate:
we have the capital, we
have the skills and we have the intellect to be
able to do this ourselves as
Australia.

TICKY FULLERTON: Now Craig Emerson has said, and I quote,
"There is no
proposal for 'buying up the farm', importing overseas labour
and
dedicating the production to Chinese consumption." You don't sound as
though you believe him.

DAVID FARLEY: Um, I can only go on what's
been published in the
newspapers. I haven't been in close contact with Craig
at all on this
issue. But any proposal at all would have to run of course
the national
interest, would have to be run through FIRB itself and then
ultimately
that that decision'll be made by Wayne Swan, our Treasurer with
the
ultimate responsibility.

But as that process goes on, I think
Australia should take a chance to
(inaudible) itself up into a more current
and contemporary position of
foreign ownership and foreign operations of
agricultural land in
Australia. We've got a very outdated document and
policy on the
management of agricultural land, and more importantly, the
transferring
of value.

There's opportunities that we could lose
taxation benefits by not making
sure that the transactions are structured
properly. Food will play, in
the next two decades, a bigger role in
stability in society than what
energy does and what minerals
do.

TICKY FULLERTON: David Farley, can I ask you finally about your
abattoir? It's quite a brave move. It's the first time an Australian
abattoir's been built in a long while and it goes against the whole
structure of the industry, which seems in Australia to be geared towards
live export.

DAVID FARLEY: Well it's not so much a brave move; it's a
move of
necessity. The north of Australia is ideal breeding country, and at
the
moment our redundant assets in the north, being the aged cows, have to
face long journeys south.

Sometimes they're on the trucks for four
days travelling down to the
southern abattoirs. A long journey comes at a
great expense.

And now it just makes sense for us to be able to put a
commercial option
for our redundant cows and our non-conforming cattle, our
heavier cattle
that can't make the Indonesian markets, give them an
opportunity that we
don't burden them down with freight costs, and more
importantly, we
address the issues of the clean energy policies that are
there and try
and minimise our exposure to the carbon tax.

TICKY
FULLERTON: David Farley, thank you very much for joining us.

DAVID
FARLEY: Thanks, Ticky.

TICKY FULLERTON, PRESENTER: And Trade Minister
Craig Emerson is out of
the country at the moment, but we're hoping to catch
up with him for an
interview later next week.

(4) China is seeking
less scrutiny of its purchases of Australian farms

"We're on
the taking end of offers. Australia never had deals anywhere
as good as the
best in the free trade arena. New Zealand already enjoyed
freer access and
cleaned up a lot of markets potentially ripe for
Australia."

It was a
concern to see "fair access to a market being manipulated", Dr
Stone
said.

Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan said Australia should not "be held
to
ransom by countries who have a non-market currency and the capacity to
manipulate the system with a non-market currency".

"Australia is not
equipped with current regulations and the tax system
to deal with the huge
tax avoidance occurring with foreign investors in
Australia," Senator
Heffernan said.

"Add to that the huge concessions made to encourage what
was corporate
foreign capital, which is now sovereign (foreign government)
capital,
and you can completely bypass the tax system.

"These are all
problems Australia is not equipped to deal with and we
need legislation
reviewed."

A legal source familiar with negotiations with the Chinese
said it was
"absolutely" plausible China would try to get better access to
buy farms
here.

But another source involved in trade said he hadn't
heard of the Chinese
seeking less scrutiny of farm buys in the FTA
negotiations.

Mr
Bowen responded to details of a plan revealed by the Australian
government
to lure billions in Chinese investment dollars to open up
farm land across
northern Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern
Territory to help
feed China's population - 1.3 billion and growing.

News of the joint
study with China comes just weeks after Australia
signed a free trade
agreement with Malaysia, worth an estimated $1
billion in Australian
agricultural exports. Talks continue to complete
trade agreements with South
Korea, Japan, China and Indonesia.

China, according to Meat and Livestock
Australia's Asian regional
manager, Aaron Iori, is regarded as the next
golden opportunity for
Australian chilled beef exports, especially for
premium cuts as China's
top income earners far outnumber the total
population of Australia.
Consumption of beef in China was currently 4
kilograms per capita - a
low base with room for growth as the newly affluent
seek to increase
their protein intake beyond the staples of pork and
chicken.

But Mr Bowen said: "Contrary to popular belief, we don't have
large
tracts of untapped farmland and we work with restrictive
vegetation-management regulations, many of which are supported by the
federal government, that would make any opening up of undeveloped land
and intensifying of current production extremely difficult. There is
also extreme weather, pests and lack of roads and other infrastructure
and facilities that makes this a very challenging environment."

The
executive officer of Western Australia's Pastoralists and Graziers
Association, Ian Randles, said the government's natural heritage listing
for the Kimberley region and the Environmental Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act would present large hurdles for any
foreign buyers.

Mr Randles said: "There is definitely land up there
suitable for a huge
diversity of crops but the federal government's own
legislation is so
difficult to work with I'd say that once any potential
buyer sees this
they'd run a mile."

PLANS
to seek billions of dollars in Chinese investment to transform
vast tracts
of undeveloped land in northern Australia for farming would
come at the
expense of giving Australians access to affordable, good
quality food,
opponents say.

The Trade and Competitiveness Minister, Craig Emerson, has
confirmed
that the government is undertaking a joint study with China to
examine
the policy changes needed to facilitate a massive investment by
Chinese
agricultural interests.

Dr Emerson denied this meant plans to
''buy up the farm'' and use
imported labour to produce food for the
voracious Chinese market with
its 1.3 billion citizens. "It is designed to
lift Australian food
production for world markets," Mr Emerson
said.

The Nationals Senator, Barnaby Joyce, who has pushed for tougher
restrictions on foreign ownership of land - a move seen as breaking
ranks with the Liberals - said it was a worry for urban as well as
regional Australians. While the move by the Chinese was "astute",
Senator Joyce said it exposed the lack of planning for our own food
security since Australia was now a net importer of food - and the
resulting inflation had an impact on food prices. "It's not that you'll
run out of food; it's the form of food that you'll be able to buy, and
that is happening right now. How often do you see people now who in the
past bought the roast, now by mince? Why? Because they can't afford the
roast, but that was once a staple."

Selling Australian land to a
foreign state-owned enterprise has
troubling implications, according to
Joyce. "Therefore it is held by an
organ of the government, and governments
, especially strong ones like
the Chinese, don't go broke. Therefore they
can hold it in perpetuity".

Joyce denied his views were xenophobic. "Look
at any other country and
see what their controls of [foreign] investment are
like and then
compare it to ours and you'll see you can't buy [land] in
China, you
can't buy it in Japan, you can't buy it in South Korea, you're
struggling to buy in the United States and there are vastly greater
controls with buying it in New Zealand."

The Liberal senator Bill
Heffernan said Australians were either "too
bloody tired or too bloody lazy"
to develop the land to ensure our own
future. "I think it's time that all
Australians sat up and took notice …
we're not just going to lose control of
our sovereignty but of our own
destiny. If you let other nations take
control of your sovereign assets
it's no different to what would have
happened 100 years ago when they
[invaded] with an army."

Senator
Heffernan, who chairs a Senate inquiry into Australia's foreign
investment
rules, fears it will push up the price of land and distorts
the
market.

While northern Australia has millions of hectares of
under-utilised land
- and abundant water and good proximity to Asia -
obstacles to
development have included poor transport links and a very
difficult
climate. Until now China has focused on opening up farmland in
South
America and Africa to meet the demands of its burgeoning middle
class.

More than a quarter of meat produced worldwide is now eaten in
China. In
1978, China's annual consumption of meat was 7.25 million tonnes.
It is
now 64.5 million tonnes and more than twice that of the
US.

Julia Gillard told a conference on "Australia in the Asian century"
this
month that we should be ready to act as Asia's food bowl by building
our
food-processing industry and developing irrigation and higher-yield
crops.

The Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson has rejected claims
his
support for Chinese investment in northern Australia has been influenced
by the reported business interests of the former Labor Prime Minister
Bob Hawke.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson denies his support for a
Chinese land
deal is influenced by the former Labor Prime Minister Bob
Hawke. [AAP]
There are unconfirmed reports Mr Hawke is representing a
Shanghai-based
company wanting to farm all 15,000 hectares of the land being
developed
as part of the second stage of the Ord irrigation project in
Western
Australia.

The Coalition Senator Barnaby Joyce has used a
parliamentary hearing to
claim that has influenced Dr Emerson and says
Australia has to look
after its own interests.

"In our national
interest we should be getting the biggest footprint of
our own country,
developing our own food for sale to the world," he said.

Dr Emerson
rejects the claim.

The Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he welcomes any
foreign
investment as long as it is in Australia's interests.

Trade Minister Craig
Emerson has rejected claims his support for Chinese
investment in northern
Australia has been influenced by the reported
business interests of former
Labor prime minister Bob Hawke.

The Government wants China to invest in
land in northern Australia, as
part of a deal to increase food
exports.

There are unconfirmed reports Mr Hawke is representing a
Shanghai-based
company wanting to farm all 15,000 hectares of the land being
developed
as part of the second stage of the Ord irrigation project in
Western
Australia.

The Ord River area is home to some of Australia's
most prized
agricultural land and is one of the sites up for consideration,
as is
the Atherton Tableland in Queensland.

The Australian Trade Minister Craig
Emerson has rejected claims his
support for Chinese investment in northern
Australia has been influenced
by the reported business interests of the
former Labor Prime Minister
Bob Hawke.

There are unconfirmed reports
Mr Hawke is representing a Shanghai-based
company wanting to farm all 15,000
hectares of the land being developed
as part of the second stage of the Ord
irrigation project in Western
Australia.

The Coalition Senator
Barnaby Joyce has used a parliamentary hearing to
claim that has influenced
Dr Emerson and says Australia has to look
after its own
interests.

"In our national interest we should be getting the biggest
footprint of
our own country, developing our own food for sale to the
world," he said.

Dr Emerson rejects the claim.

The Opposition
Leader Tony Abbott says he welcomes any foreign
investment as long as it is
in Australia's interests.

Australian coal producers may
be considering closing their mines because
Chinese buyers are defaulting on
thermal coal contracts. China, the
biggest user of coal, wants a lower price
for the commodity and an
analyst says until that's negotiated, Australian
thermal coal exporters
won't be able to sell their product.

James
O'Connell from Platts Coal Report says Australian miners will have
to make
some tough decisions.

"In the next couple of months there's definitely a
possibility that if
there's not a hot summer in China, if coal burn goes
down, their
stockpiles are going to kick in, the exports from the United
States are
going to hurt Australian producers.

"They're going to be
in a position where they might have to consider
closing down mines or at
least temporary shut downs. "In Australia,
that's an absolute
possibility."

About Me

'Mission statement'.
I am convinced that jewish individuals and groups have an enormous influence on the world. The MSM are, for almost all people, the only source of information, and these are largely controlled by jewish people.
So there is a huge under-reporting on jewish influence in the world.
I see it as my mission to try to close this gap. To quote Henry Ford: "Corral the 50 wealthiest jews and there will be no wars." `(Thomas Friedman wrote the same in Haaretz, about the war against Iraq! See yellow marked area, blog 573)
If that is true, my mission must be very beneficial to humanity.